It's time for some basic maintenance on our 1998 Triumph Tiger project
bike.

So we thought it might be a good idea to record some of the work for
the benefit of others.

We're also trying a slightly revised page format for a planned series
of articles covering some basic motorcycle maintenance and repair projects.

webBikeWorld is known for its product reviews, but perhaps not as well
for its many maintenance and repair articles, but that's quickly changing.

We've always been surprised at the number of motorcycle owners who don't
perform their own maintenance.

But, with today's busy schedules, not everyone has the time, and that's
fine.

But for those of you who would like to try your hand at some basic
maintenance but need a bit of encouragement, we hope this information is
useful. In general, it really doesn't matter if your bike is different than
the one shown here.

Most of the information can be applied to any similar motorcycle.

And
by the way, if you're interested in writing a maintenance, repair or other
article for publication on webBikeWorld, drop us a line -- we're always
looking for high-quality content.

Adjusting Drive Chain Slack on a 1998 Triumph Tiger

No matter which brand or model motorcycle you own, always refer to the
owner's manual for more information on the correct procedure for adjusting
the chain.

If you plan on doing your own basic maintenance tasks such as changing
the oil, adjusting the chain or checking the spark plugs, you may want to
purchase an official shop manual and/or a third-party maintenance and repair
manual from Haynes or others.

The official Triumph shop manual calls for a maximum slack (vertical
movement) of 35 to 40 mm for the Tiger's chain. The manual is vague on the
details of exactly how the slack is measured; in fact, they call for the
bike to be on "either the side or centre stand".

We measure slack using a set of Vernier calipers; obviously, the calipers
are overkill for this application, but they're handy for spreading apart
to the maximum width (40mm shown here) to check the slack.

Most manuals call for rotating the wheel until the tightest part of the
chain is hanging underneath. Some will recommend hanging a specified weight
on the chain to measure the slack. We usually pull the chain downwards and
upwards to measure the distance.

Here the calipers are set to 40mm and the chain is just about at the
maximum range. Note that we are measuring from the same point; i.e., the
bottom of the link to the bottom of the same link. It doesn't matter if
the point is at the top or the bottom of the link, as long as it's measured
to the same point:

Center Stand vs. Side Stand

We've found that there may be considerable difference in the slack measurement
if measured with the bike on a side stand, a built-in center stand or a
rear wheel stand. The slack measurement can be affected by how much load
is on the swingarm. A center stand takes most or all of the weight off the
swingarm, sometimes causing the highest slack measurement.

Since we don't have a center stand on our Tiger, we used a Steel Horse
swingarm stand. A swingarm stand does tend to load the swingarm, causing
a difference in the amount of slack when the bike is lowered back down on
its side stand.

The bottom line is -- try to follow the manufacturer's directions as
closely as possible! This is a good rule no matter which maintenance
or repair task you're tackling -- and it goes double for oil recommendations.
Don't try to second guess the manufacturer's engineers!

It's interesting to note that Triumph recommends first checking the wheel
alignment before adjusting the chain. This can get complicated for
beginners, and to be honest, unless the rear wheel is way out of alignment,
it's probably very hard to tell the difference. Checking wheel alignment
is difficult and --- ssshhhhh! -- I've never done it in 40+ years of motorcycle
riding.

Triumph Tiger Eccentric Chain Adjustment System

The Tiger uses an eccentric chain adjustment system. All chain driven
bikes should have one, but alas, they don't (for many different reasons).

The eccentric cam makes it (relatively) easy to both align the rear wheel
and adjust the chain. The Triumph Thunderbird Sport does not have an eccentric
cam and instead relies on a less accurate bolt that simply pushes the axle
rearwards to adjust the chain. This makes rear wheel alignment more difficult.

Triumph recommends checking the reference marks machined in to the bottom
of the eccentric cam. Here's a photo:

There are 3 things to note in this photo. The finger at the bottom of
the photo is pointing to the reference marks machined into the eccentric
cam chain adjuster. These marks should be aligned as closely as possible
on each side of the wheel. In theory, if the marks are the same on each
side, the rear wheel is in alignment.

The adjuster rotates around the axle, which is located under the large
circular cutout just above the finger. Before you can rotate the adjuster,
the pinch bolts must be loosened. In this photo, the hand at the top right
is holding a hex wrench on the pinch bolt. The pinch bolt should only be
loosened enough to move the adjuster; too loose and there's a chance that
the adjuster will move too much or that one side will move as you're adjusting
the other side.

Once the pinch bolts on both sides of the rear wheel are loose, use the
12mm hex wrench in the bike's toolkit to move the eccentric adjuster. The
yellow arrow points to where the hex wrench is inserted. It doesn't take
much movement to adjust the chain; a slight tap is all that was needed on
this bike. Here's an animated .gif photo showing the very slight movement:

Don't tighten the chain up more than the lowest number of the specification;
in this case, 35mm is the bottom limit. That's only 5mm of adjustment range
and it doesn't take much movement of the eccentric to tighten up the chain
that much. Too tight is as bad as too loose (or maybe worse!).

It's now a matter of moving the eccentric, checking the chain slack,
rotating the wheel around to check the slack in a couple of spots, etc.
Don't forget to try and get the notches on the adjuster so that they are
exactly in the same spot on both sides of the axle (to keep the rear wheel
in alignment).

Once everything looks good, tighten up the pinch bolts. Check your owner's
manual or shop manual for the correct torque settings for the pinch bolts
-- this is very important. You don't want to lose a pinch bolt during a
ride! Here's a webBikeWorld review of the
Precision Instruments Split
Beam torque wrench, our favorite.

In this application, Triumph calls for 36Nm -- note that's Newton-meters,
NOT foot-pounds. How many times I have mixed them up! Triumph adds
a note in their shop manual that reads "Apply copper grease to threads."
Having never seen "copper grease", we use "Never Seize".
Probably the point of the grease is to prevent the pinch bolt from getting
rusted and to keep the threads in good shape without corrosion.

After the pinch bolts are torqued to specifications, check the chain
slack one more time.

That's all there is to it -- it probably took longer to write and read
this than it does to actually perform this essential maintenance task.

If you have any comments or suggested improvements to this article, please
forward them to

Comments are ordered from most recent to oldest.
Not all comments will be published (details).
Comments may be edited for clarity prior to publication.

From "D.P.": "I was reading one of
your articles on eccentric chain adjusters. The article was specifically
talking about the 1998 Triumph Tiger. In the article it stated the following:
Triumph adds a note in their shop manual that reads "Apply copper grease
to threads." Having never seen "copper grease", we
use "Never Seize". Probably the point of the grease is to prevent
the pinch bolt from getting rusted and to keep the threads in good shape
without corrosion.